Anyone serious about getting healthy knows that exercise is a vital part of the equation, but have you found that working out also brings on a serious appetite?
Most of us would say that exercise does make you hungry, but others believe that doing really intense exercise can take your appetite away.
What's true? It's time to find out — our reporter Michael Slater has volunteered to help out for this little experiment.
The test
To help him out is Nicolas Philippou, who's a fine example of a healthy Australian male. The second volunteer is Rob Rowland Smith also known as "The Sandhill Warrior" — for the second part of the experiment Rob is going to put Michael and Nick through a more rigorous routine.
Rob's day job is training and motivating world-class athletes, so we're keeping him on the leash for the first part of the experiment, which is moderate exercise only — walking, swimming and pedalling, which are all low impact. These exercises get your heart and lung rate up to around 70 percent. But all three blokes are hardly pushing it to the limit.
Question is, how hungry has it made them? After some moderate exercise they all fall on a picnic basket like they're starving. A whole chicken is gone in no time flat — it's a fair measure of their appetites.
Michael: Now we were out for about an hour, it was moderate exercise. Why are we all feeling so hungry at the end of it?
Rob: We've worked at 65-70 percent of our capacity, we've increased our body metabolism and we've lifted our heart rate. We've actually stimulated our body and our body then says "you need to refuel, you need to put some petrol in the tank".
Well, that answers one question — we do get hungry after moderate exercise.
So what happens to your appetite when it comes to hardcore exercise? Rob the warrior is let off the leash for phase two — he's booked Michael and Nick up for two hours and he thinks they'll be leaving on a stretcher! They're in for a major cardiovascular workout, warrior style.
After two hours in the Warrior's world, Michael's ready to drop. So do the boys want to eat lunch?
Michael: I can't believe that yesterday, after an easier workout I was so hungry, we devoured that chicken but I don't want to touch it now. Why is that do you reckon?
Rob: I'm the same way. I don't want to eat anything big — all I want to do after a big session like that is hydrate. Water and a piece of fruit, but as for a big meal, no way.
Nick: I feel like I've gone into shock. Thinking of food just makes me nauseous.
So why is that? The man who can help answer this Dr Martin Thompson, a Professor in Exercise and Sports Science at Sydney University.
"People often feel nauseous following intense exercise and this is because there is build up of acids within the body as a result of metabolism, and these acids have a direct affect on the brain, which makes us feel quite sick," he says.
David Ruschena is someone who knows that feeling well. He's a champion marathon runner who averages 25 kilometres a day.
"For me, intense exercise is a period of exercise that's 45 minutes to an hour that generally involves me running at speeds in excess of 20 km/h for half that time at least."
That's some serious exercise, but what does it do to Dave's appetite?
"After I've done intense exercise, I don't feel hungry at all, mainly because I feel pretty sick."
Conclusion
That settles it. If you're into intense exercise, don't fight the nausea by eating. Instead, keep your fluids up — dehydration is not a place you want to go.It is however important to get some carbs and protein in so your muscles don't deplete.
Fast Facts
•Have you heard of 'hitting the wall' in marathon running? When marathon runners "hit the wall" they stop running and start staggering because they've used up their body's supply of fast burning glucose and only have slow burning fatty acids left to run on. It can happen around two hours, or about thirty kilometres into the race.
(health.ninemsn.com)
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